The Ambivalent Relations Between Bureaucracy and Public Innovation: The Case of the Successful Failure of Dial Police

Abstract

Building on a growing body of literature on public innovation and the rediscovery of bureaucracy, this article explores the relations between innovation and bureaucracy. A framework for studying innovation in a bureaucratic context is developed and its relevance assessed through a case study of the successful implementation but failed diffusion of an innovation project. The case study demonstrates how a bureaucratic context represents not only barriers to innovation but also a number of complex drivers. The outline of these ambivalent relations is used to tease out the Janus face of the new spirit of innovation in public administration.

Keywords:

• bureaucracy
• public innovation
• police
• public administration

Notes

¹ “Tryk Politi” is a word play in Danish on the pronunciation of “Tryk” which means “push” and here refers to “pushing” or dialing a phone number, and the word “Tryg” with similar pronunciation, meaning “[to be or feel] safe.”

² After a security clearance, we were granted unrestricted access to the pilot project, to observe and interview members and all relevant materials.

³ The terminology “the Danish Police” refers to the entire Danish police force including all branches, while the “NP” the national police [Rigspolitiet] refers to a specific branch of the Danish police placed hierarchically above the regional police department of which NSPD is one.